The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to nanotechnology and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to nanoshells, method of fabricating the same and applications utilizing thereof.
Nanoscience is the science of small particles of materials and is one of the most important research frontiers in modern technology. These small particles are of interest from a fundamental point of view since they enable construction of materials and structures of well-defined properties. With the ability to precisely control material properties comes new opportunities for technological and commercial development, and applications of nanoparticles have been shown or proposed in areas as diverse as micro- and nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, nanofluidics, coatings and paints and biotechnology.
New fundamental physical phenomena are observed at the nanoscale when the dimensions of the fabricated functional technological units are close to a critical quantum size, called the exciton Bohr radius. The low-dimensional structures are characterized by squeezing electrons and holes inside the highly limited space of nanosize units resulting in their quantum confinement (QC). QC leads to collapse of the continuous density of states of the bulk solid into the discrete electronic states. The effects related to QC have been firstly found in semiconductor crystals of a few nanometer size and showed deep and flexible tuning of their electronic structure versus the nanoparticles physical dimensions providing exceptional luminescent and optical absorption properties. Such a pronounced modification of the electron energy spectrum at nanoscale erases the difference between semiconductor and metals. The low-dimensional crystalline units became the basis for a new generation of light emitting and light detecting devices such as displays, optical detectors, semiconductor lasers, luminescent bio-markers, and the like.